Where are migrants released currently?

by philg

There have been a bunch of articles about purported Trump Administration plans to release migrants into sanctuary cities.

Here’s a dumb question: Where are they released currently?

From a recent NYT article:

Entering the country at a rate of more than 5,000 each day, new arrivals from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are departing border towns by the busload. While President Trump has made a point of threatening to send migrants from the border to inland sanctuary cities that oppose his immigration policies, it is an empty threat: Migrants are already traveling by the thousands every day to cities across the country — to Atlanta, Chattanooga, Orlando, Richmond, as well as to sanctuary cities, like New York, Los Angeles and Seattle.

After an initial 72 hours or so at Customs and Border Protection processing centers along the border, the vast majority of those entering the country now are released to nonprofit respite centers, where they are fed and clothed. From there, they are booked on Greyhound buses to destinations where they may have friends, family or the hope of a job. They pay top dollar, often $250 to $300 each, usually advanced by family members in the United States.

So Greyhound is now a refugee/asylum-industry profiteer! The NYT article suggests that all of the profits go to the British owners of Greyhound.

The implication is that nearly all migrants are released into “border towns”. Does “nonprofit respite center” mean taxpayer-funded like most other segments of the immigration industry? If so, maybe border towns should actually be happy about keeping released migrants as a cash source.

Where are there good numbers on the states and towns into which migrants are currently released? It would be interesting to see a data visualization and then add Greyhound tickets sold out of those towns as well.

6 thoughts on “Where are migrants released currently?”

  1. A busload or more of migrants per week are dropped off in Phoenix at the Greyhound depot. From there they go to shelters and local churches and wait for bus tickets. See below. These are some of the stories from December to March. There has been about one story per week on the immigrant situation.

    http://ktar.com/story/2373597/ice-keeps-dropping-off-busloads-of-migrants-at-phoenix-area-churches/
    https://www.azfamily.com/news/hundreds-of-migrants-cross-arizona-border-after-several-busloads-dropped/article_e7b588e2-2370-11e9-b256-4357e290b721.html

    https://kjzz.org/content/777346/ice-drops-2-bus-loads-migrants-phoenix-greyhound-station
    http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/church-volunteers-say-they-are-overwhelmed-as-more-migrants-are-dropped-off-by-ice-in-phoenix

  2. Phil, none of the destination cities cited are border towns, and the article cites that the several hundred dollars for transportation are paid by migrants, friends, or family. At least nobody is paying airfare.

    Subjectively, thousands of people each day spreading out around the country sounds like a lot, but this is a large country (though, I too would like to see the numbers), compared to the thousands of cities and towns in America, I suspect the actual per city/town actual numbers are low. I believe these people are quickly assimilated – they are ready to do the jobs (meat/poultry processing, agriculture, housekeeping, etc.) that american employers never tire of claiming that they cannot fill. Unemployment in America is low – jobs are plentiful.

    These people will be working and paying taxes – having said that, I stipulate that America needs a way to track these workers to insure there is a path to citizenship (based, perhaps, on the value of the work they do), and a way to insure the cost of public assistance is minimized and is of short duration. This is a tall order for the legislative branch of the federal government we are blessed/stuck with in 2019.

    Maybe I am an ignorant sentimentalist, but the NYT paragraphs you cited sounded pretty hopeful and a lesser of evils approach. I know I will be flamed plenty.

    • @Mason,

      So how different is your logic to someone getting on an airplane from any country and flying to the USA and when they land they can simply state “I have friends in the USA who will help me to make it in the USA and such a friend is paying to transport me from the airport”? Aren’t there so many more incessant people out there, good or bad people, around the world who want to also come to the USA?

  5. According to today’s FT greyhound is up for sale so there is an opportunity for you, Phil.

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